Rio Ferdinand narrates phone call with Rooney after watching Pogba and Lingard dance on Instagram while Manchester United were struggling
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand recalled an instance of him ringing up former teammate Wayne Rooney when the Red Devils were struggling. At the time, the former defender said he watched Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard dancing on Instagram, with the Manchester outfit placed sixth in the league standings.
Ferdinand was recently discussing the matter with another ex-teammate of his, Phil Jones, on the Rio Presents podcast. He claimed that no such thing would have happened when he was at the club.
Ferdinand spent 12 years playing for the Red Devils from 2002 to 2014. Recalling the aforementioned incident, he told Jones (via Daily Star):
"I'll tell you when it changed, from the outside at least. I rang Wazza when I saw Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard dancing on Instagram when we were sixth in the league.
"I rang Wazza and said, 'What's going on here? How are you allowing this?' And he said, 'You can't say nothing man, it's not the same anymore'. He said, 'It's not just those two, there would be a big group looking at me like I'm mad if I said anything.'"
Manchester United have struggled since Ferdinand left the club, failing to win a single Premier League or Champions League trophy. They haven't enjoyed the best of starts to the 2024/25 campaign either and are currently sitting 14th in the league standings.
Up next for the Red Devils is a game against Brentford at Old Trafford in the English top-flight once they return from the international break (October 19).
Manchester United considering former Premier League manager to replace Erik ten Hag - Reports
Manchester United's poor form has resulted in increased pressure on manager Erik ten Hag. Manchester Evening News now claims that the Red Devils are looking to replace their Dutch coach with ex-Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel.
The former Ajax boss came to Old Trafford in the summer of 2022 and has delivered an FA Cup and a Carabao Cup each so far. He's remained in charge of the club for 125 matches across competitions.
The aforementioned report claims that Manchester United are also looking at other candidates. However, they're attracted to Tuchel, given his availability at the moment.
Since walking out of Bayern Munich at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, the German has been without a job. While he was with Chelsea, Tuchel managed 100 matches across competitions and also won the UEFA Champions League in the 2020/21 season.